$6 Passes for 3-Day Use of County Trails OKd : Recreation: Supervisors also reinstate $23 annual fee. Permits will be required for all 330 miles and violators will face $54 fines.

After more than a month of delays, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved $6 passes for hikers, bikers and horse riders who want to use county trails for up to three days.

The board’s action, effective Monday, also reinstated $23 annual trail passes required for the use of the 330 miles of county trails. The passes were approved last year and first required Jan. 1, but were put on hold by the board at the end of January because of questions about their cost and about the fairness of charging for public trail use. Youths under 16 are exempt.

Passes will be required on all county trails, and users caught without them can be fined $54. Enforcement will begin April 1.

“I want to give people a chance to start digesting this,” county Parks Director Rodney E. Cooper said. “There’s been a lot of back and forth.”

Only Supervisor Mike Antonovich opposed the fees. Antonovich had previously proposed that instead of user fees, private companies and organizations be asked to fund trail upkeep through an adopt-a-trail program, similar to one instituted on the state’s freeways. County parks officials say that despite efforts to contact potential donors, no one has agreed to pay the suggested $500 to adopt a mile of trail.

Cooper said that his department lacks staff to organize such a program. He said that he is considering a plan to hire a private firm to recruit businesses and other groups for a percentage of the trail-adoption donations.

In a compromise motion, the board asked Cooper to complete a thorough report on adopt-a-trail possibilities within the next three months.

Antonovich failed in attempts to persuade a majority of his colleagues to exempt people 18 and under and establish a reduced fee for senior citizens, families and groups.

“If you make it compatible, more people will purchase them,” he said. Cooper said he would oppose any proposals to reduce fees because they could hamper his ability to raise the money he needs to maintain the trails: $150,000 this year and $450,000 next year. Cooper suggested that the board collect the fees for a year before considering any discount alternatives.

Trail use fees were established during last year’s difficult budget negotiations as part of a compromise to keep the trails open. For the second consecutive year, county administrators had recommended they be closed.

For the first year, $150,000 was to come from the trail pass fees and $300,000 from a one-time transfer from the county Department of Public Works.

The passes, as well as county trail maps, are available at regional parks, nature centers and recreation offices. A number of private animal feed and bicycle stores also have agreed to sell the passes.